Republicans tout school choice to woo minority vote

Republicans eager to attract black and Latino voters believe they have hit on an ideal magnet: school choice.

Led by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, with high-profile contributions from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the GOP is pushing an election-year initiative to talk up school choice at every turn.

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Calling for more charter schools, vouchers and tax credits to help parents pay private school tuition fits with the party’s mantra that the government works best when it gets out of the way and lets the free market flourish. But top strategists say it’s more than that: Talking about helping poor minority children softens the GOP’s image and lets candidates offer a positive vision instead of forever going on the attack. And unlike immigration reform, school choice is politically safe; there’s no chance of blowback from the tea party.

Plus, the photo ops are great. As the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks put it in a strategic planning document: “Focus on kids and the future = excellent media opportunity.”

But Democrats say they’re confident the black and Latino majorities they built up in recent years will see the school choice push as empty messaging.

“You cannot punch me in the mouth with one hand and reach out and shake my hand with the other,” said the Rev. Joe Darby, a civil rights leader in Charleston, S.C.

Black voters, he said, won’t be won over by Republicans promising vouchers to help them pay tuition — not when the same candidates are fighting minimum wage hikes and blocking health care expansion. “The Republicans don’t have a leg to stand on,” Darby said.

Republicans beg to differ. They believe school choice can be the fulcrum of their newly reinvigorated effort to woo minority voters, dubbed the Growth and Opportunity Project. They point to polling data showing strong support for vouchers among Latino voters, especially in New Jersey and in the swing states of Florida and New Mexico. They note that a large number of minority families are entering charter school lotteries and more than 500,000 students are on charter waiting lists nationally.

GOP strategists also like school choice because it adds a spark of positive energy to a 2014 campaign agenda that’s awfully heavy on the negatives: no to Obamacare, no to minimum-wage hikes, no to gay marriage — but yes to rescuing struggling kids from failing public schools through the power of the free market.

“It allows Republicans to be positive, and different from how they are normally perceived,” said Matthew Dowd, a political strategist and the architect of George W. Bush’s 2004 victory. “Republicans are often seen as supporting policies that help a certain class of voters,” Dowd said. “Here, we have policies that provide opportunity for everyone, especially low-income voters.”

Even if minority voters aren’t entirely won over, Dowd said, GOP candidates still benefit from talking up school choice: “It gives the message to moderate white suburban voters that they’re tolerant, they’re expansive — they care.”

In short, school choice “is not only great policy but great messaging,” Dowd said.

It certainly worked on Phyllis Jenkins. A mother of three in Harvey, La., Jenkins usually votes Democrat. But she obtained a voucher this school year to enroll her youngest, a 7-year-old, in a Catholic school, Our Lady of Prompt Succor. The school’s voucher students don’t post great results on math and reading tests; last year, Our Lady earned the equivalent of a D- from the state. In many states, in fact, voucher students do no better — and sometimes fare worse — than their peers in public schools.

Still, Jenkins said she sees her daughter making gains by the day. The school is safe. The staff is caring.

“I just love it,” Jenkins said.

And she is deeply grateful to Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal for promoting the voucher program. So grateful that she plans to vote for him if he runs for higher office. “He’s supporting our children,” Jenkins said. “He’s looking out for the future.” She’ll even consider backing other Republicans, too, if they promise to protect vouchers. “It would make a big difference,” Jenkins said.

Hoping for more such victories, Priebus visited New Orleans and Detroit last fall to talk up the Republican commitment to school choice. He has addressed the National Black Chamber of Commerce on the subject and has written several times about the issue’s importance to black and Hispanic voters. In an open letter to Republicans published in the National Review Online, Priebus wrote: “If you’re not engaging with the Hispanic community, you better get to work.” He then outlined a series of talking points — starting with school choice.